The enormous increase in the use of new chemicals since World War II
has led not only to the pollution of the outdoor environment but also to
a sharp decrease in the quality of indoor air in the home and
workplace. As a result, more and more people are developing a condition
known as multiple chemical sensitivity, or MCS. These people are made
ill by exposure to even low levels of the chemicals found in perfume,
air fresheners, cleaning products, fabric softener, diesel and auto
exhaust, new carpet, paint, and other products. This collection of
stories from dozens of chemically sensitive people illustrates the
devastating effects that MCS has had on their lives as, with varying
degrees of desperation, they seek to regain their lost health.
Beauticians, housekeepers, painters, college professors, factory
workers, physicians, Gulf War vets, nurses, secretaries, whatever their
occupation may have been, their lives have never been the same since MCS
hit them.

The stakes are huge in the controversy over multiple chemical
sensitivity. Corporations are extremely concerned, and understandably
so, about the potential for increased liability and decreased profits.
Many industries appear to be using their tremendous financial resources
to convince the public that MCS is merely "chem-phobia."

Thus those whose lives have been destroyed by MCS are caught in a
nightmarish limbo: no one wants to believe that there is a biological
basis for MCS until more medical studies have been done, and no funding
is available to carry out such studies because so many elements of
society believe it is "all in their heads."

About the Author:

Alison Johnson,
B.A., M.A., is a graduate of Carleton College and studied mathematics at
the Sorbonne on a National Science Foundation Fellowship. She received
a master's degree in mathematics from the University of Wisconsin, where
she studied on a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship, and is currently a freelance
editor for university presses. She has produced three videos on
multiple chemical sensitivity. Johnson and her daughters have multiple
chemical sensitivity, which developed at intervals years apart in
various family members. Through avoidance of chemical exposures, they
are now able to function well in normal life circumstances.